Renaissance Players are ‘off to see the Wizard’ July 9-24

Release Date: 6/29/2004. Expired: 7/24/2004

The Renaissance Players are “off to see the Wizard” when they present the family classic The Wizard of Oz in The Renaissance Center’s Performance Hall for three weekends in July.

Dorothy and Toto join the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion to battle the Wicked Witch of the West at 7 p.m. July 9-10, 16-17 and 23-24 and again for 2 p.m. matinees July 10, 17 and 24. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7 for children under 13. The Wizard of Oz is being sponsored by Tennsco and is the final show of the Renaissance Players 2003-04 season.

“The Wizard of Oz is our biggest and most ambitious production to date,” said Amy Arrington, managing director of the Renaissance Players community theatre troupe. “With a cast of more than 80, including the Renaissance Players Orchestra and a whole team working behind the scenes, this show is a major production. Robert Cooper and our Toy Shop have designed and built our most intricate set yet and Technical Director Michael Knight is cooking up some special effects sure to wow the crowd.”

David Arnold, who portrayed Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun, is making his Renaissance Players directorial debut at the helm of The Wizard of Oz. His cast includes more than 50 children portraying Munchkins and various other parts as well as the stage debut of Maggie, a Yorkshire terrier in the role of Toto.

Ned and Kay Mann return to direct the Renaissance Players Orchestra with Kim Brownfiel Cantu serving as stage manager for her sixth production. And Rachel Gunn rounds out the production team as Assistant Director.

The 1939 MGM movie version of The Wizard of Oz is an all-time family classic, nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Released in what is considered one of the greatest years ever for movies, The Wizard of Oz won Oscars only for Original Score and Best Song (Somewhere Over the Rainbow) in an awards ceremony dominated by Gone With the Wind while other competitors included Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Beau Geste, Stagecoach, Wuthering heights and Gunga Din.

The movie is based on L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900. The script for this stage production was adapted by John Kane for the Royal Shakespeare Company and is fairly faithful to the movie, even including the Jitterbug scene that was edited from the final version of the film to shorten it.

The story is one that is familiar to everyone. Dorothy Gale is a lonely girl being raised by an aunt and uncle on a Kansas farm who longs for a more exciting life “somewhere over the rainbow.” To protect her beloved Toto from a spinster schoolteacher, she runs away from home and encounters the mysterious Professor Marvel, who convinces her to return home. But as she gets back to the farmhouse, it is struck by a fierce tornado and Dorothy and Toto are transported to a magical land of Munchkins, witches, talking trees and a cast of characters all in search of something missing from their lives.

Dorothy’s journey to Oz in search of the great Wizard takes her through mysterious lands and into battle against the Wicked Witch of the West, who wants the ruby slippers Dorothy wears after the tornado dropped her house on the witch’s sister.

Dorothy struggles to get back home and in the end, with help from Glinda, the Witch of the North, learns her lesson that “there’s no place like home.”

The Renaissance Players will host a Lunch with Dorothy at noon Saturday, July 17. There are a limited number of tickets, which include admission to the 2 p.m. matinee that day. Lunch with Dorothy and the show are $22 for adults, $20 for seniors and $17 for children under 13.

Dorothy, the Wizard, the Mayor of Munchkinland and Glinda, the Witch of the North, are scheduled to appear during the lunch in the Gaslight Theatre on The Renaissance Center’s lower level. Participants can bring cameras and have their pictures made with the characters during the lunch.

The buffet menu for Lunch with Dorothy includes chicken strips, green beans, macaroni and cheese, corn nuggets, tossed salad, cookies, cobbler, unsweetened tea and lemonade.

For more information on the Renaissance Players production of The Wizard of Oz, call (615)740-5600. To purchase tickets for the show or Lunch with Dorothy, call (615)740-5570.

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Theatre page for more about community and professional theatre.

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